Amityville nonprofit Kids Need More delivers holiday toys, joy to children in need

Emma Leary's twin sister, Morgan, had spent most of 2016 in the hospital after being diagnosed with brain cancer. But Morgan made it home for Christmas that year, and a few days before the holiday, the Learys were visited by a bus befitting the season: Carolers. Presents. Even Santa Claus himself made an appearance.

The group was from the Amitvyville-based nonprofit Kids Need More's annual Holiday Cheer bus program.

"They let me and my sister go on the bus and pick out anything we wanted from the extra toys," Emma Leary, now 17, recalled in an interview Sunday. 

That memory has been front of mind for Leary this holiday season: Her sister died in March from the cancer. Leary organized a toy drive in Morgan's honor and collected about 200 toys, which she then donated to Kids Need More. 

On Sunday, Leary was on one of more than 50 buses organized by Kids Need More that delivered gifts and good cheer to Long Island children the nonprofit's founder Melissa Firmes said are dealing with a "serious childhood interruption" like a sick or deceased family member or a house fire.

The buses were sponsored by various nonprofits, businesses and organizations

"Childhood only happens once, we want to make it a good one," Firmes said of the Holiday Cheer bus program. She wore a red Santa Claus-themed dress.

"That's what it's all about."

During the summer, Kids Need More runs camp programs, including a weeklong one for children with cancer and their siblings. Firmes started doing the Holiday Cheer bus program 11 years ago as a way to bring some cheer into her life after being diagnosed with leukemia, she said. 

On Sunday, 52 sponsors were scheduled to visit about 2,000 children from between 600 and 700 families. Sponsors needed to raise a minimum of $750 to qualify for a bus, which they loaded with gifts that had been donated to Kids Need More.

The Nassau County-based Mikey G's Embracing Wings Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting law enforcement families who have a child with a disability or medical condition, was among the groups to sponsor a bus. Keith Schwan, a member of the group, said in an in interview the Holiday Cheer bus as an extension of the "season of giving."

"Somebody's always got it worse than you," Schwan, 46, of Merrick said. "Just bring some joy to some people that don't have it."

Mary Sotomayor, of Parker Waichman LLP, a Port-Washington based personal injury law firm, said in an interview the mission of the event was in line with the mission of the firm, which has been involved in the drive.

"We love giving back to the community," Sotomayor, 45, of Copiague, said. "We're always taking care of people." 

Firmes, 52, of Copiague, said the Kids Need More headquarters had felt like a "store" over the past month as donated gifts piled up. 

"The kids want this," Firmes said. "This has a life of its own."

Leary said her toy drive, as well as handing out gifts to other kids from the bus, had helped put her in a "Christmas mood." One of the families she visited Sunday included a child currently going through brain cancer treatment, she said. 

"This Christmas is different, but it felt good to be putting smiles on other people's faces," Leary said. "If you make someone else smile, than you eventually start to smile."

In that sense, she said, she channeled Morgan, who "always was smiling."